I absolutely LOVE presenting new ideas to colleagues. A couple weekends ago, I presented Low-Prep Summarizing Strategies to educators at the SCIRA conference in Myrtle Beach. During this presentation, I had participants up and moving constantly in order to internalize the strategies, and so that they could get the feel of each strategy.
The presentation started with a discussion of what is summarizing and why we summarize. According to Rick Wormeli in Summarization in Any Subject, summarizing yields some of the greatest leaps in comprehension and long-term retention of information (page 2). The question is, though, how often should we attempt to summarize? I, personally, feel that summarization should happen throughout lessons. Summarization could take one minute, or up to 10. I concur with Wormeli when he says that lectures delivered in chunks is much more effective than a 45-minute lecture, and a quick summarization is a great way to break up a lecture so that participants/students can internalize the information being presented.
I know what you're wondering. What strategies did I present? Let me show you. (Most of these strategies come from Rick Wormeli's book.)
HUMAN CONTINUUM:
For this strategy, you need either a line of the floor or ceiling, or an imaginary line. One end is labeled A for Agree, and the other end is D for Disagree. You could easily change these labels to match your content, as long as they are opposites. Allow for the middle to be just that; such as I'm not sure, I don't know, I haven't made up my mind yet, I agree sometimes, etc. Make a statement about what students have been learning. It is much more interesting if the statement is somewhat controversial, such as WWII was justified. Students/participants line up on the continuum, and then have to validate their position.
For my presentation, I modeled this strategy using a couple of books. I summarized The Big Fat Enormous Lie by Sharmat, and posed the statement, "It is sometimes okay to tell a lie." Participants lined up according to whether they agreed or disagreed with the statement, with a lot of people in the middle! We had a short discussion of why they were standing where they were.
I then held up Little Red Riding Hood, and posed the statement, "It's okay to talk to strangers." Again, participants were all over the continuum, and we had a short discussion as to the reasons it is okay to talk to strangers, sometimes okay to talk to strangers, and never okay to talk to strangers. Do you see how this could be used in your classroom after a read aloud?
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I have used this strategy before when discussing websites versus blogs with participants in a technology course I co-facilitate. After a series of statements and discussion, it was easy to see that teachers spent a lot of time on their websites, with very little traffic, and they were frustrated and wanted to try blogging.
EXCLUSION BRAINSTORMING
This strategy could be used as a summarizer or an activator, or a formative assessment. The teacher writes a topic on the board or a piece of paper, followed by a series of words or short phrases. All but one of the words or phrases connects to the topic. Students draw a line through the word that does not connect, and circles the words that do connect to the topic. The most important part of this strategy is that students need to explain why the circled words are connected, and why the crossed-out word is not.
For example: PLANTS: leaves, sun, stem, rabbit
MIXTURES: plural, separable, dissolves, no formula
As you can see, the word/phrase that does not connect can be as obvious or covert as you want. Depending on the age, grade, content, the teacher can modify this to meet their needs. As a matter of fact, this can be differentiated for the different learners in the classroom. Not every student has to have the same answer choices, or even the same amount of answer choices. Just thinking aloud...
BLABBERIZE.COM
I have blogged about Blabberize here and here.
INFOGRAPHICS
Since humans are very visual creatures, it is natural that we can quickly interpret visual information at a far greater pace than that of the written word. Students can create visualizations using Piktochart.com. I have used infographics to demonstrate my understanding of a book I've read, such as in this post, and this one.
SUMMARY BALL
This is a Rick Wormeli strategy, and it is brilliant! I use to use a blown up beach ball in my classroom all the time, but I would write prompts on each part of the ball. Each color would say something different like, Main Character, Setting, Plot, etc. It was enevitable that each student would have to answer the same question, and there was a limit to how many times we could through the ball and have a new idea.
Rick Wormeli suggests that you toss the inflated ball to any student (without the writing on the ball), and the student who catches it has 3 seconds to state any fact, concept, or skill recently presented in the lesson. Then the ball gets tossed to someone else. When you have no more ideas (ideas cannot be duplicated), then you sit down. The teacher determines how long this summarizer takes, since students may go back and forth with information. The entire class is listening since no ideas can be repeated.
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CAROUSEL BRAINSTORMING
I have previously blogged about this incredible strategy here. The gist of this strategy is to get students up and moving, and collaborating with classmates to add ideas to posters hanging around the room. In my session, I titled each poster with a summarizer we had already discussed. Participants counted off one, two, three, four (to form groups; there were 4 posters hanging in the room), and each group received a marker to use on the posters. This marker was carried by the group from poster to poster. I told them where all the one's would start, the two's, and so on. Here are some key tips when facilitating this process:
- Make sure you are strategic in the colors of the markers you hand out. Try to use 4 different, distinct colors. This way, the facilitator can stand in the middle of the room and quickly see if groups have added information.
- Do not set a timer. I usually say, "Ding, ding ding! Time to move!" There are times in which a group may need a few extra moments at a poster. When I call time, groups move clockwise to the next poster.
- When at a poster, participants must read what is already there. They are allowed to put a check mark next to what they agree with, a question mark next to what they don't understand, and they are required to add new information.
- Be careful of the flow of how students will get from poster to poster. The room I presented in was not entirely conducive for this strategy, but I knew adults could navigate the chairs and would not climb on top of them.
When finished with adding new information to each poster, these posters could be used in many different ways. If this is used as an activator, then each poster could be discussed before that particular topic is going to be presented. The teacher can clarify misunderstandings, and has gathered a pre-assessment of what students already know. Imagine an adminstrator entering your room, and seeing you discussing a poster that was student created. Nice. You can use this strategy as a review for an assessment also. For younger students, or certain concepts, students may draw on the poster instead of write. The possibilities are endless!
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SHARE ONE; GET ONE
Present the lesson as you normally would. When it is time to summarize (when a student or two starts to nod off, or an administrator walks in), have students process what has been presented by using this strategy. Students draw a grid of nine squares (or six, or four, or sixteen). In any three squares of the matrix, students independently record three different concepts, facts, or skill they recall from the presentation. Then, everyone gets up and moves around the room in order to fill in all of their squares. Each classmate can add only one idea to another's matrix, but students can add ideas to as many classmates' matrices as they wish.
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TEN THINGS
With a group of four (or so), students list 10 ideas from the lesson. When they finish, they stand up as a group and shout, "10 things!" This shout can be as loud or soft as the teacher says. Each person remains standing until all groups are standing. Each group says one item on their list, and other groups cross it off of theirs if they have that item (no item is allowed to be repeated). Go around the room with each group sharing one item at a time. When a group's list is exhausted, that group sits. Keep going until all groups are sitting.
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Remember the primacy-recency effect that Sousa, 2003, talks about: We remember best what we experience first in a lesson, and we remember second best what we experience last. Make sure you are using some sort of summarizer!
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